Thursday, January 9, 2014

Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page Turns 70

Here’s wishing a very Happy Birthday to Led Zeppelin‘s Jimmy Page, who turns 70 on Thursday, January 9.

The influential guitarist is not only responsible for creating many
of the most iconic riffs in rock history but he also produced all of Led
Zeppelin’s albums and co-wrote nearly every one of his famous band’s
songs.

Early in his career, Page established him as one of the U.K.’s top
session guitarists, playing on well-known recordings by everyone from The Who and The Kinks to Donovan and Petula Clark. In 1966, he joined the famed blues-rock group The Yardbirds, first as the band’s bassist, and eventually replacing Jeff Beck
as its lead guitarist. When The Yardbirds lineup began to fall apart
in ’68, Page re-formed the band with three very talented new members —
singer Robert Plant, bassist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. The group, of course, soon was rechristened Led Zeppelin.

5 comments:

Led Zeppelin never has been my favorite band (somewhere in the top ten, though), but Jimmy Page and Ritchie Blackmore share the title of being the greatest rock guitarist ever, ever, ever in my book. And, "Stairway to Heaven" stands as one of only a very few songs I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing the first time I heard it; Page's guitar work is the primary reason I do recall it so precisely.

Age seventy, hah? Stop the world for a while, all right? Time is traveling too fast for me.

This is a nice spread and a wonderful tribute, Daliana. I especially enjoyed seeing the thirteen-year-old future "physicist" and watching his smile, his happiness as he played. Thirteen is a good age to be a boy.